The start of 2016 will mark the beginning of several new projects recently approved by the Interreg BSR Programme. Baltic Development Forum will be a partner to two of them, and an associated partner to another two.
BSR Stars S3: Innovation flagship for the Baltic Sea Region
BDF is partner in the project BSR Stars S3: “Stimulating smart specialization ecosystem through engaging SMEs in open innovation processes”. The project was recently approved for funding from the Interreg BSR Programme. It involves partners from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, and Norway. The Baltic Institute of Finland is Lead Partner.
The main objective of the project is to improve competences and capabilities of innovation actors (SMEs, universities, business development organisations, regional authorities and national policymakers) to apply a transnational approach in the regional and national smart specialisation strategies. The project will develop more integrated innovation support infrastructures and new innovation management tools to leverage complementary competences across borders in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR).
The main outputs are a cross-sectoral S3 support programme for SMEs and policy briefs with recommendations that can be used at the regional, national and EU levels for efficient S3 implementation. The project will foster more efficient approaches to transnational collaboration and a more integrated innovation ecosystem in the BSR.
Baltic TRAM: Upscaling Research in the Baltic Sea Region
In cooperation with 16 project partners from the Baltic Sea Region and five associated organisations, Baltic Development Forum will aim at making change within research and innovation area through the project BalticTRAM. The project activities will be led by the German partner DESY Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron.
Baltic TRAM will focus on investments in research infrastructures and on a strengthened cooperation between research institutions and business. It will enhance dialogue between industrial users and researchers in order to streamline R&D-intensive investments in innovation and link them to concrete industrial needs. The ambition of the project is to elaborate on the “Smart Cooperation” strategy, to be developed on the basis of the national research strategies and brought into the spotlight of the regional research and innovation agenda.
The overall objective of the project is to boost innovation, secure the implementation of the Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) and encourage entrepreneurship by supporting SMEs – thus contributing to the regional effort of making the Baltic Sea Region innovative, sustainable and competitive.
TENTacle: Transport corridors in the Baltic Sea Region
Baltic Development Forum is an associated partner to the TENTacle project which seeks to boost development opportunities generated by the implementation of the TEN-T core network corridors. The aim is to maximise the regional growth, prosperity and cohesion benefits of the new EU transport policy instrument, established to improve mobility, intermodality and interoperability on the major transport axes across Europe. Bearing in mind the very diversified connectivity and accessibility needs within the Baltic Sea region, TENTacle will deploy a number of pilot cases representing the areas located on, close to and far away from the three specific TEN-T core network corridors: Scan-Med, North Sea-Baltic and Baltic-Adriatic.
In each of the cases, TENTacle will address the key growth challenge, that may be resolved through a better physical and functional connection to the TEN-T core network corridors. Action plans, pre-feasibility investment studies, new business models and transport strategies to be delivered through interaction among the public and business stakeholders, will demonstrate how to strengthen positive corridor synergies in different geographic and development contexts.
Results of the pilot cases will be brought to the macroregional level to feed the debate how to capitalise on the EU transport policy instrument irrespective of the geographical location. New evidence of the impact of TEN-T core network corridors on the transport networks in the Baltic Sea region, solutions how to extend them north- and eastwards, and how to combine them with another policy coordination framework of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea region will lie at the heart of TENTacle work.
The project is carried out by 23 project partners, which will be further supported by 65 associated partners, together bringing a wide range of expertise and experience in transport, logistics and policy-making to the project.
NonHazCity: Minimizing emissions of hazardous substances
Baltic Development Forum is an associated partner to NonHazCity, a new research project to minimize the emissions of hazardous substances in cities within the Baltic Sea area.
NonHazCity wants to demonstrate possibilities of municipalities and waste water treatment plants to reduce emissions of priority hazardous substances and other pollutants from small scale emitters at urban areas that cannot be targeted with traditional water treatment and enforcement techniques. The substances of concern will be identified and prioritised, sources tracked and ranked, and individual Hazardous Substance Source Maps and Chemicals Action Plans will be developed by each partner municipality. NonHazCity will be active in 10 municipalities in the Baltic Sea Region (Stockholm, Västerås, Turku, Pärnu, Riga, Kaunas district, Silale, Gdansk, Lübeck, Hamburg).
The Swedish project coordinator is Stockholm municipality.